Who is Racing Bulls’ new rookie Isack Hadjar?
Isack Hadjar will be one of a remarkable six rookies on the F1 grid in 2025.
Red Bull’s decision to part ways with Sergio Perez and promote Liam Lawson after just 11 grands prix has allowed the team to again dip into its pool of talented juniors and offer Hadjar a place on the Formula 1 grid next season.
The 20-year-old, born and raised in Paris to Algerian parents, agonisingly finished runner-up in this year’s F2 championship behind Gabriel Bortoleto, who will also be in F1 next year after signing for Sauber, a team that morphs into works outfit Audi in 2026.
Going into the season’s final round in Abu Dhabi, just half a point separated Bortoleto from Hadjar at the top of the standings, a gap that increased to four and a half after the initial sprint race.
With Bortoleto starting second on the grid for the feature race, a place ahead of Hadjar, a grandstand finish was on the cards. However, the latter suffered cruel luck when a technical gremlin prevented him from getting off the line.
That allowed Bortoleto to claim the F2 championship and leave Hadjar cursing over the radio. He managed to get going but finished the race 19th and last, and a lap down.
The pain of that title defeat has now been softened by the driver moves over the past few days within the Red Bull family, allowing Hadjar to join Bortoleto on the F1 grid next year.
What unfolded in Abu Dhabi is as close as Hadjar has come to ending a season as a champion during his relatively unremarkable junior career.
Even throughout Hadjar’s karting days, there is little to commend, other than finishing runner-up in the cadet class of the Coupe de France and Challenge Rotax Max France in 2016.
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Hadjar has similar radio style to Tsunoda
Yet Hadjar made the step up to single-seaters three years later, starting with the French F4 championship in which he scored one victory en route to finishing seventh in the standings.
Racing again for the FFSA Academy the following year, Hadjar at least showed considerable improvement but had to settle for third, with a record of three wins and eight additional podiums.
Further victories and podiums have followed across the various series in which Hadjar has competed, such as Formula Regional European and Formula Regional Asian, as well as F3 Asian and F3, but a title has always eluded him.
In 2022, after being signed to the Red Bull Junior Programme, Hadjar was third in the standings in Formula Regional Asian, and fourth in F3. His three wins in the latter earned him a promotion to F2 for the 2023 campaign.
Driving with the Hitech Pulse Eight team, it proved a difficult year as Hadjar clinched a solitary podium en route to finishing a lowly 14th.
Switching to Campos Racing for this past campaign at least thrust Hadjar back to the front of the grid, with his four victories all coming in feature races, only to dramatically fall short at the final hurdle.
Hadjar has developed a reputation for his uncompromising driving style, as well as being vocal over the radio. He is not afraid to express an opinion.
In many respects, he is reminiscent of his Racing Bulls team-mate Yuki Tsunoda when the Japanese driver first entered F1, and who quickly developed a reputation for his radio rants.
Tsunoda has at least managed to temper his ways over his four years in F1. Perhaps he will have to teach Hadjar a thing or two over the course of next year as to keep a cooler head.
